In WO 2004/037430 A1, a coating plant is known in which a frame is located in a paint booth. The frame carries several paint robots along its long sides where the entire frame with the paint robots is raised up on legs in relation to the foundation of the paint booth. This upwardly-offset installation of the paint robots requires less maintenance in comparison to floor-mounted paint robots and is theoretically less susceptible to contamination since the overspray in the paint booth drops down to floor-mounted paint robots more quickly and more densely.
There are a number of benefits to this design. First, the work space is utilized better. A smaller booth width is also possible. Finally, a smaller number of robot axes is possible. There are also a number of drawbacks to the high placement of the robots. Airfow is disturbed, i.e., the atomizer must always be located so that it is not positioned in the turbulence generated by air flow around the robot. Another drawback is the possible contamination of the car body by dirt from a robot. The location of these robots also results in poor access to the robot for maintenance and repair purposes.
A disadvantage of the coating plant in accordance with WO 2004/03743 A1 is that for the raised installation of the paint robots, an additional frame with legs has to be located in the paint booth. In addition, traditional paint robots are designed so that the work space is above the installation plane whereas the coating plant in accordance with WO 2004/037430 requires paint robots whose work space is below their installation plane.